The Capital Region's biggest independent restaurant operator, Mazzone Hospitality, has allied with a casino proposed for East Greenbush and will open an upscale restaurant at the facility if the site is selected by the state for development.

"We could not be more thrilled to announce this alliance with a business that is not only an industry leader but also locally owned and operated and part of the fabric and tradition of the Capital Region," said Rita Cox, a senior vice president for Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

Given the uncertainty involved and the proposed timeline — if approved, the casino would not open until fall 2016 — much about the restaurant remains undecided, both sides said. Angelo Mazzone said he expects it would be a steakhouse of some sort, but he doesn't know whether it would be associated with the 677 Prime brand, and beyond that little is clear, including the size of the restaurant.

Part of the 150-acre site would include a 3- to 4-acre garden to grow produce for the restaurant and other Mazzone Hospitality locations, Mazzone said.

"It's all still a long way off, if it even happens," he said.

The East Greenbush site is one of five competing for the state casino license in the Capital Region. The others are in Florida-Amsterdam, the city of Rensselaer, the city of Schenectady and Howes Cave in Schoharie County.

Mazzone Hospitality would operate only the flagship restaurant, not any of the several other dining options at Capital View Casino & Resort, Mazzone and Cox said.

The company previously was in talks about a restaurant at the so-called E23 plan for a casino development at Exit 23 of the Thruway, within the city of Albany. After that plan was abandoned, its team of Flaum Management, Capital District Off-Track Betting Corp. and the Chickasaw Nation proposed a casino on 24 acres along the Hudson River in Rensselaer.

Mazzone remains co-chair of an alliance of businesses supporting the Rensselaer proposal.

"It's going to be built somewhere, and we want to be part of it," Mazzone said.

Mazzone said he agreed to open a restaurant at Capital View because he has worked in the past with Saratoga Gaming & Raceway; he operated a high-end seasonal Saratoga Springs restaurant called The Lodge for the company for four summers.

Further, he said, he was not approached about opening a restaurant by either the Flaum group or the team of Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming and Rotterdam-based Galesi Group, which is proposing a casino along the Mohawk River in Schenectady, near Mazzone Hospitality's headquarters at Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia.

"Nobody else asked me," Mazzone said.

Given that the clientele at the proposed Capital View casino would be largely different from patrons of 677 Prime, Mazzone said he was not worried about siphoning business to the suburbs.

"Whether it's in Rensselaer or East Greenbush, we're still very committed to making sure people come to downtown Albany for dining and entertainment," Mazzone said.

On a related note, Cox said the casino would offer entertainment, but it would not have a theater or dedicated music venue.

Any room in which a show could be performed would double as meeting space, she said, and would have a capacity of fewer than 1,000.